Commentary on Leontion the Epicurean

Leontium, that mere courtesan, who had the effrontery to write a riposte to Theophrastus – mind you, she wrote elegantly in good Attic, but still, this was the license which prevailed in the Garden of Epicurus. - Cicero, De Natura Deorum i. 33/93

Leontion (sometimes spelled Leontium) was the companion of Metrodorus of Lampsacus. She’s described as a “concubine” in some (mostly hostile) sources (in which case we may think of her today as his girlfriend), but Seneca reports that they were married. If this is true, then the enemies of the Garden committed a double sin of nurturing uncalled-for prejudices against her and also of telling lies about her marital status and calling her a whore, all because they hated the idea that a woman may teach philosophy and excel as a philosopher.

Based on the qualified venom that Cicero gives about her when he called her a “little whore” for having the audacity of criticizing Theophrastus while being a female, we know that she must have been educated, refined, and eloquent (she wrote in “elegant Attic” dialect). She is universally attested to have been very intelligent, even by her enemies. We can infer that she expressed herself accurately, clearly and concisely in her native language (as Epicureans were known to do), and we know that she authored original philosophical books. That she had ongoing conversations with the Hegemon is well documented.

(Epicurus) corresponded with many courtesans, and especially with Leontion, of whom Metrodorus also was enamored. - Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 10, Portion 6

We know from a Usener fragment that Epicurus would learn things from her or credited to her, and that she was therefore an intellectual peer of the Hegemon. We also know that the nature of her books seems to have been polemical, as in the case of Colotes, and so this may have added to the animosity that she engendered among the enemies of the Garden.

A Female Scholarch

On one occasion, when Epicurus left Athens for some time to visit his friends in Asia, Leontion was left in charge of the School and she served, temporarily, as the Scholarch. This is a decision for which Epicurus was harshly criticized, and that he adamantly later defended in a reiterated manner. Epicurus trusted her (from among all his main disciples) to lead the Kepos in his absence–not his successor Hermarchus (of whom Seneca reports that he had initially been a difficult student), nor any of the other men: he trusted Leontion. This means that she had a superior enough skill set and was knowledgeable enough to be a teacher, and so I believe she should be considered as being one of the Kathegemones rather than the mere “courtesan”, or the sort of “Mary Magdalene of the Epicureans” that she is often dismissively portrayed as. We even have evidence that busts and paintings were made of her likeness in antiquity, and even later during the Renaissance.

The Scottish Epicurean friend and mentee of Thomas Jefferson, Frances Wright–who was an Enlightenment thinker, abolitionist, author, “manly woman”, and atheist–was among the first people to rescue and reimagine Leontion in a dignified manner in her novel A Few Days in Athens.

Her Polemic

There is not much we can say with firm conviction concerning what she found so worthy of objection in the ideas of Theophrastus, that drove her to write a polemical book against him. Our friend Jason, in a private conversation, says:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy characterizes Theophrastus as being aporetic (characterized by an irresolvable internal contradiction or logical disjunction), which I could definitely see a whole book being written on since he devoted so much time and effort to criticism of other philosophers without offering anything to sink one's teeth into.

It seems that Theophrastus believed that the astronomical bodies were sentient gods. If this was part of the focus of Leontion’s objections, then she may have had a role (as did the Cyrenaic Theodorus the Atheist) in helping to shape the arguments and doctrines of Epicurus’ theology.

Epicurean women were mentioned by name in some ancient sources as being involved in the cults of various local deities in various locations, as we saw in a previous essay. Perhaps Leontion was a leader of, or had some influence on, the pious women of the Epicurean Garden. If so, and if Theophrastus’ astral deities were a major focus of her polemic, her profile as a rectifier of correct piety and advocate of correct polytheistic theology makes sense based on what we know of the role of women in the Garden. If this was the case, her discussions with Epicurus may have influenced Portions 76-77 of Laertius’ Tenth Book. But Theophrastus was a prolific (and highly respected) Aristotelian, and it’s possible that there were many other ideas in his writings that Leontion found worthy of objection.

Theophrastus, in Callisthenes, said that “Life is ruled by Fortune, not wisdom”. This negates the salvific potential of philosophy. If Leontion wrote against this, her ideas may have influenced adages like Epicurus’ Principal Doctrine 16 and Metrodorus’ Vatican Saying 47.

Danae’s Tragic End

According to Athenaeus in The Deipnosophists, Leontion had a daughter named Danae who was “also a hetaera”, and who died saving her lover’s life.

And Sophron the governor of Ephesus had a mistress, Danae, the daughter of Leontiŏn the Epicurean was also a courtesan herself. And by her means he was saved when a plot was laid against him by Laodice, and Laodice was thrown down a precipice, as Phylarchus relates in his twelfth book in these words:

"Danae was a chosen companion of Laodice, and was trusted by her with all her secrets; and, being the daughter of that Leontiŏn who had studied with Epicurus the natural philosopher, and having been herself formerly the mistress of Sophron, she, perceiving that Laodice was laying a plot to murder Sophron, revealed the plot to Sophron by a sign. And he, understanding the sign, and pretending to agree to what Laodice was saying to him, asked two days to deliberate on what he should do. And, when she had agreed to that, he fled away by night to Ephesus. But Laodice, when she learnt what had been done by Danae, threw her down a precipice, discarding all recollection of their former friendship. And they say that Danae, when she perceived the danger which was impending over her, was interrogated by Laodice, and refused to give her any answer; but, when she was dragged to the precipice, then she said, that: ‘Many people justly despise the Deity, and they may justify themselves by my case, who having saved a man who was to me as my husband, am requited in this manner by the Deity. But Laodice, who murdered her husband, is thought worthy of such honour.’ "

Conclusion

Leontion was Metrodorus' partner and the most prominent woman philosopher of the Garden. She was entrusted by Epicurus to be in charge of the School and temporarily served as Scholarch, exchanged epistles with him, wrote original works that are not extant, and was later the object of hostility for doing all these things as a woman in the male-dominated world of ancient philosophy. In the coming months, I will continue to raise the profile of other companions of the early Garden, as I did with Colotes recently, by publishing a series of essays on Metrodorus of Lampsacus, the co-founder of the School. If you enjoyed this content, please share it with like-minded friends, subscribe, like, and comment!

Further Reading:

Settling accounts - Using the example of Louise Dupin (for whom Jean-Jacques Rousseau worked as a scribe, and from whom he got many of his ideas), Rebecca Wilkin evaluates the history of how women philosophers have been silenced